There really is nothing wrong with aiming for perfection.  If you are a competitive person or a high achiever, aiming for perfection comes naturally.  Sometimes when I talk about perfection, it can become an easy cop-out to continuously discuss that reaching for perfection makes people unhappy.  Try explaining that concept to an athlete, for instance, who willingly sacrifices everything in life to train hard each day to reach their maximum potential.. they might have something to say about me marginalising their efforts towards perfection into a category of “you are unhappy”. Hmmmm.  I don’t think so!

However, it is really important to note that as much as perfection works for certain personality types, just like most things in life, it is not a one size fits all.

Perfection starts to become draining when you use it to compare what you are, who you are and where you are at with other people achievements.  That’s the Red Flag moment.  When you JUDGE what others are doing and make an assessment that you are not good enough and therefore move into the “I have to be perfect” stance.

I think that we can all say that at one time or another, maybe just to conform or fit in, we have all done this.  And my recommendation to you at this stage would be to re-train your thought process from “I have to be Perfect” to “I am perfectly imperfect in <<insert your judgement here>> but I am perfect in <<insert your talents there>>”  Does that make sense?  

We all have our tricks and abilities and the more we place gratitude and love into what we DO do well, the more we become comfortable with who we are and the comparisions stop.  Embrace your wisdom and be thankful for other’s wisdoms in their given abilities.